A Werewolf's Saga Books 4, 5, & 6 (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 2)

by Michael Lampman

  “It will take us time to get there. And now, we don’t have the time.”

  Jimmy nodded. “They will find us. If they haven’t already.”

  Brandon’s face felt like it went pale.

  Rachel’s did as well.

  Robert took a deep breath. “I think they already have.” He looked back to everyone in turn. “We have to get ready.”

  Collectively, they all sighed with just the thought.

  18

  As the others planned, Rachel went outside to the porch. With everything going on with the others, she suddenly felt like a third wheel, or in her case the fifth. Even with all of this apparently revolving around her, she found herself feeling rather helpless. She hated that more than anything else about it. She wanted to do something. She would do anything, but nonetheless couldn’t. So she did what she always did when she felt this way—she stepped outside alone within her thoughts to be by herself.

  Jimmy watched her leave the living room. He did know how she felt. At least he had an idea. He took the chance, went out to the porch behind her, and closed the door behind him. “You’re not alone Rachel. None of this is your fault.” He walked up behind her and stopped there.

  She laughed some with what he said. At the same time, she hoped that he would come out there with her. He did, and she loved him more for it.

  “It’s true you know.” He put both hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

  She turned around and faced him with her arms over her chest. “I know.” She gave him a smile.

  He could feel how fake it looked. “You know.” He took one more step closer to her, and stopped just before their toes touched. “We can never seem to be alone sometimes.” He gave her a full faced smile.

  His voice made her truly smile. “I missed you Jimmy.”

  He felt her questions. He felt her heart wanting to know about everything that happened. “You know, I wanted to come and find you again. After I woke up in that morgue, I was going to.” He shrugged his shoulders some. “But then I got to thinking about what would have happened if I did.”

  She dropped the smile. “You did cause quite a stir.” She chuckled some.

  “When did you know that I lived?”

  “The State Police came to see me. They told me that you just got up and left.”

  He nodded. “I guess that would cause some people some questions.” He laughed too.

  “Where did you go after you woke up?”

  “Well.” He came up alongside her. He looked out to the trees at the front of the house. There were so many of them, that it looked almost like a wall of them, surrounding the place like a fortress. How that just isn’t the case. He now turned to her side. “I went back to the city. I went over to Collins’ place there. It seemed like the only place I could go to.”

  She also turned towards him. “Did you ever think about me?”

  Her voice made him gush some. He melted some from it too. “Every thought I had.” He could even feel his face warm over some as well. “In a way, I hoped you would come and find me.”

  “Two ships.” She turned to the trees.

  “Two ships?” He turned with her.

  “Passing in the night. Never close enough to come together. Never far apart long enough not to see each other there, passing each other in the night.”

  His heart ached more. “Yeah?” He turned to her and took her left hand into his. “I see you. I can feel you. I’m close to you right now.” He squeezed ever so gently.

  A set of tears formed in both of her eyes.

  He could see one streak roll down her left cheek and follow it ever so gently towards her chin. He took the index finger of his right hand and wiped it away from her skin.

  She turned back to him. She said nothing more and just bent in towards him, bringing her lips to his.

  He kissed her strongly, yet gently, as they embraced. After several long seconds, he released it but kept her face close to his with his right hand ever so gently cupping her chin. “I’ll never leave you again. I promise you.”

  She smiled firm and proud. “You better not. I won’t let you.”

  He returned the smile.

  The door opened behind them, and Sasha stepped outside and joined them on the porch. “I’m sorry Jimmy, Rachel, but we have to start planning on how we’re going to cover this place.” She gave them both a nod and a smile. She hated having to do this, but she knew she must.

  Rachel never once let her eyes leave his. “Go to work.” She let go of his hand.

  He nodded solemnly. He turned and walked with Sasha back inside.

  After he left her, Rachel turned back to the trees. Deep within them, and surrounding them too, darkness waned. Night was coming. The time was coming to fight to live. She could see it. She could feel it coming on all of them fast.

  19

  The night did come. The darkness consumed the world. The woods around the house flared with such a deep nothingness, that it almost looked like it devoured everything it touched. Shadows danced everywhere. The world seemingly grew to a quiet that seemed hard to comprehend.

  Jimmy stepped outside to the front porch that wrapped around the front of the house. He walked to the front steps and stopped there, looking out into the dark. Bugs sung their mighty songs, filling the sounds of the trees. He could hear the heartbeat of several deer that seemed to be close to the house. He listened to their beats. They seemed normal. “There’s nothing out there yet.” He told Sasha who was standing at the bottom of the steps.

  “There will be.” She kept her eyes fixated on the trees. She could also hear the deer, ebbing away with their sounds of life. “We’re the only ones in this small town. They’ll have no trouble following our scents.”

  They ran there the night before, with Jimmy carrying Rachel. If they thought about it last night, they would have found some other way to get there. Some other way that wouldn’t have left a trail of their scents behind them as they ran. However, it was too late for that. It was too late for a lot of things, but one thing stood out more than the rest. “Do you trust him?” She couldn’t help wondering. She didn’t trust Robert at all. “Do you trust that Robert is here for what he says he’s here for?”

  “We have to. He won’t hurt Rachel.” Jimmy looked down at the top her red hair. Normally it looked bright, but now, with so little light but the moon overhead, it looked pale and not quite right.

  “Are you sure of that?” She looked around over her shoulder at him.

  He saw the doubt written all over her eyes. It glistened within them. He turned and didn’t answer her.

  Seeing him do that, answered her question for her. “I thought so.” She whispered under her breath.

  He walked back into the house. Rachel now sat on the sofa.

  Brandon sat next to her and Robert stood in the far corner of the room towards the back hallway. No one was talking. The room seemed quieter than the woods.

  Rachel turned and looked at him when he walked back inside. “See anything yet?”

  Everyone looked at him when she asked it.

  “No.” He looked at Brandon. “You should help Sasha. When they come, there won’t be just three of them this time. They’ll come with everyone they have. They’ll have the numbers.”

  Brandon took a deep breath. He stood up after looking at Rachel as he did so, and walked to Jimmy at the front door. “So you have Sasha taking a side of the house, and me, you want mobile?”

  He looks so pale. He looked so much like one of them. “Yes. You have the speed, so you should stay clear of the house. Sasha and I will take the front door and the back. They’ll have a good fight on their hands if they try to get inside.” He gave him a smile. He could see that he was afraid, but he could also see more there than that. He had strength behind his eyes. After hearing everything that Robert told them, he thought about everything with a great deal of thought. From what he knew of walkers, and the whole idea of being the one that bites you, and being that Michae
l one of the heads of the clans bit him, told him something. A powerful walker made him. That meant that he was just as powerful as the one that bit him. Thinking that, and believing it, gave him hope that he could handle himself in the end. He just had to find the strength to be what he was made to be.

  Brandon nodded.

  Robert turned towards both of them. “He should wait on the roof.” He put his hands together. “Not all of them will be on the ground.” He pouted some. He too thought long and hard about everything that was said, and he couldn’t help but think about whether he was right or wrong about saying what he did. Only time would tell him if he was or wasn’t.

  Brandon nodded, thinking about the bat lady that attacked him. The thought of seeing her again made his cold dead skin seemingly crawl.

  Jimmy nodded as well. He then looked to Robert as Brandon left him and went out through the front door behind him. “What are you going to do?” He needed to ask. He needed to know. He had to know if trust was ever going to be there between them. He wanted so much to ask him it straight out, but he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t do that to Rachel. Not after her finding out that he was alive after all these years.

  Quite frankly, he would never hurt her again, and he meant that. “I’m going to keep by Rachel.” He looked to her with a gentle glance.

  Rachel said nothing. She only lowered her head.

  Sasha came back inside, but kept the door in her right hand. “Someone’s coming.” She left about as fast as she said it.

  Jimmy looked to Rachel and then to Robert before he turned. He walked back out to the porch and closed the door behind him. Outside, everything still looked dark. Brandon was already on the roof. He could hear him moving towards the porch. Sasha looked ready, waiting to change as soon as she thought she had to do it. He looked to the side of the house on the right and saw a yellowish aura flowing through the trees. That alone gave him pause. Seeing the color gave him worry. Who in the hell would be out here at this time of night? A human was coming—a human carrying a very familiar glow around him. What in the hell is he doing here? He left the porch, walked down the steps, and joined Sasha by her side as Richard Ross came around a tree.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Jimmy couldn’t believe it when he stepped out into the moonlight just at the corner of the house. He looked the same as he remembered him when he worked at the labs. He looked the same way when he told him what he was. He hadn’t changed from the time when his men shot him off the roof of Ravenswood Labs that last time he saw him. Seeing him again, every feeling he had flooded over him to the point of drowning him within it.

  “Hello James.” Ross looked neat and proper in his fine dark suit. His pure white hair sparkled in the moonlight. His eyes glistened with seeing him again. Since that night on the roof, he never thought he would ever see him again.

  Sasha, of course, had no idea who he was. “You know him?”

  “Sorry to say that I do.” Jimmy stood proud. He stood confident. “This is the man that held Collins captive. He’s the one who let the security staff shoot him. He’s the one that captured me. He’s the one who gave Rachel the drug.”

  Ross loved seeing him again, that wasn’t in doubt, but what he loved more was seeing him like this. He looked strong. He looked proud. The boy changed so much from that time—from that night—more than he ever thought he would. “We don’t have much time, my dear boy.” Ross looked back to the trees, but only quickly before he looked back to

  Jimmy. “They’ll be here shortly.”

  “Who?” Sasha looked back to the dark trees and saw nothing.

  Nothing moved. She could feel nothing coming.

  “You know whom I speak.”

  “You never answered my question. Why are you here?” Jimmy put his hands on his hips. To say that he lacked trust for this man would have been a great understatement, if there ever were one. To say that he hated him entirely would have sufficed.

  “I’ll explain that when we get inside.”

  However, he did sound rushed. He did sound scared even. He also felt nervous. “All right then.” He turned to Sasha. “Keep your eyes open.”

  “Yep.” She nodded and turned back to the trees.

  Jimmy looked back to Ross. “After you.” And he held out his left arm up and back towards the porch.

  Ross didn’t need a second chance, so he took the gesture. He nearly ran to the porch. He went to the door.

  Jimmy joined him at it and opened it up for him.

  Rachel turned and watched Ross step through the door just ahead of Jimmy. Seeing him, she felt more than just shocked, she felt downright floored. “Mister Ross? What the hell are you doing here?” She stood up.

  Robert stepped towards her in the center of the room, and came up along her left side. He stopped right beside her.

  “That’s what I was wondering.” Jimmy closed the door.

  “I followed them here.” Ross straightened his tie. He fixed his shoulders. His suit looked better than ever. “They’re coming.” He looked back to the door. He looked back to Jimmy.

  His eyes were huge. They looked eager. They looked more wanting than ever. “Who’s coming?” Jimmy asked.

  “The vampires my boy.” He grinned. It was actually a grimace.

  Jimmy could tell the difference. “How do you know about them?” He needed to know next.

  “I take great care in knowing who owns me Mister—Walls—isn’t it?”

  Jimmy bowed his eyes some. He kept the look only briefly. “So why are you here? I don’t recall you answering me the first time.” He looked to Rachel and back to him again. “Or the second time.”

  “I know what happened last night. They tried hard to cover up the mess. They forgot that I have a camera system that shows me more than they really know I see.” He couldn’t get his eyes off him. He would do anything to have the chance to see the wolf again. He would die to be able to smell his power again as well. “I came to help.”

  “Why would you do that?” Rachel came right up to his side.

  Robert came with her step for step. He of course knew something about Mister Richard Ross. He knew that he ran Knight’s labs. He knew that he was big into studying different drugs. That’s all he knew, and that wasn’t enough for him.

  “I owe you…” He looked to Rachel, but quickly went back to James. “I owe you Mister Walls.”

  “Why do you owe me? You don’t owe me anything after what happened.”

  “Oh but I do Mister Walls. I truly never intended to have him do what he did. I never intended for him to hurt you.” He took a deep breath. He smelled some of his heavy must but not enough to quench his thirst for more of it. “I owe him for what happened…For what I did to aid it.” He tried to smile, but didn’t think he pulled it off well enough so he stopped it just after he started it.

  Jimmy thought about what he heard. Do I trust him? Absolutely not. He wants the animal and he will do anything to get it back to his labs. He will do anything to get him back in the cages. He would do anything to get me back. He looked to Ross but turned his eyes to Rachel.

  Their eyes met.

  He could see the same thoughts rolling around behind her eyes. She didn’t trust him either. With that, he looked back to Ross. “Why should I trust anything you say? You’d do anything to get me back in your cage.”

  “You’re wrong Mister Walls. I regret what happened with you…to you. I tried hard to make things right since then.” He looked to Rachel. “Ask Miss Garland here. I’ve done nothing but try to help her…to help you since that time.”

  Robert listened to the banter, not knowing, not caring really. What he really did care about was simple. They were coming. They weren’t ready. This was nothing but a distraction that they could ill afford to use. “I know this is fascinating, but we should get ready for them.” He could feel a hint of darkness in the air. He could feel death. He could feel decay. He could feel the heat of the pack as they came.

  Ross turned to
the voice behind him, seeing a man that he’d never seen before, he suddenly felt rather unpleasant. He felt impolite for not introducing himself to him. “I’m Richard Ross. I don’t believe we’ve ever met before.” He rectified it by offering the man his right hand.

  Robert looked at him with nothing but the non-caring side of him rushing through his heart. “Jimmy, they’re moving. I can feel them coming.”

  Jimmy heard that. He wouldn’t, couldn’t miss it. With his ears sharpened, he could hear Brandon’s footsteps on the roof grow restless. He could hear Sasha do the same thing at the front of the house. He could feel both of them tense up, nearly at the same time. “He’s right.” He looked at Rachel. He looked to Robert. “They’re moving. They’re coming.” He turned back to the door.

  Ross took his right arm and reached for Jimmy’s arm. “I have a car not that far away. I couldn’t let them see me at the house, but it is close by. I can help you go anywhere you need to go.”

  Robert reached for Rachel. “We have to get away from the windows and the doors. They can come fast. They can get in before we even know they’re inside.”

  Rachel pulled herself away from him. “I’m not running. I want to stay here and fight.”

  “Rachel, please listen to your brother.” Jimmy looked back, opening the door. With it opened, he could now smell a stale mustiness on the air. Decay flowed around with it. He could smell them moving. He could feel them coming fast to the house. “I have to get outside and help Sasha.” He pulled away from Ross’ grip. He looked back to Robert. “Can you keep her safe?”

  Robert nodded. “I have abilities yes.” He took Rachel’s left arm with his right.

  Jimmy nodded. Thinking back, he remembered when he reached the parking lot at the labs, he watched the van be tossed into the two vampires that tried to get Rachel. How he did it, he didn’t truly care, but he did care that at least he could do it. “Everyone else stay in the house.” He ran to the porch and shut the door behind him.